Working for Room and Board

Bought a motorcycle this weekend. Met a gringo which arrived back in November and is leaving in 1 week. He purchased a Honda 125 new when he arrived. The bike only has 800 Kilometers usage. I will be able to travel along the coast and visit other places on my off days. I bought a backpack which straps to the seat nicely.

Been upgraded to a real cabina with a wood floor. The tent dorms were filled the last few days and nobody wanted the more expensive room. So my roommates and I were moved to the luxurious cabina.

I now have 2 jobs, my main one is still tiling the shower for a free room, however, I still am not a very good masonary person, so as luck would have it when I am in town and when I find a traveler or two. I bring them back to the Flutterby hotel for which I receive credit. I am way ahead of the game on this. We have been almost sold out for 3 nights. I tell Pam in the morning I am going trolling and she just laughs. With my other job, I meet alot of people looking for a place to stay. For every night that a guest stays in the Hostel I get a free night of lodging.

Bartending at the Toucan Hotel has been a blast. Trey the owner pays me 10% of the bar revenue. I have averaged 130,000 per night over the last two weeks. Which sounds like I'm getting rich, but that is Tico money, about 5.60 to the dollar. I also receive a free dinner and couple of drinks. Since I am in charge of the money, no drinking till last call. Hardly any tips at all. In Costa Rica tips are not expected, so even the gringo's do not leave a tip. I plan on putting a tip jar out and slowly changing the culture.

My surfing, well, more like paddling has improved over the past week. I was finally able to stand up and ride a wave for awhile yesterday. The waves were really good the last couple of days.

Found a new place to eat, Soda Marsla, right across from the bus stop. They have the best fish tacos in town. Lunch is only 1800. or about 3. dollars, for a huge plate.

Still no camera, with the duty tax, they cost twice as much as I paid in the states.
Stay warm, Best wishes.

1st week in costa rica

Hola, I have added a little spanish to my vocabulary. Enough to get to the bathroom and get an extra serving of Gallo Pinto, the national breakfast/lunch of Costa Rica. Quite good and filling. I stayed at a nice place, last week, that was only charging me 400 dollars for the month. but they had some issues that I could not handle. Cashed out. Today, I moved down to a surf camp, Flutterby House, 100 yards to the beach and staying in a dorm room for free. Worked out a deal with another guest (Pam) on vacation from Santa Barbara, CA. I buy the food and she cooks the meals, which should work out cheaper in the long run. I hope she does not eat much. I will tile one of the showers for the free bunk.

This week has flown by. Enjoyed my time with some nice German guests. They departed for a trip down the coast, which was way out of my budget. We would go to the beach or the waterfall everyday and just hangout.

I ran into some guys, from, of all places, Murphysboro, Il. They were walking down a dirt road near the beach, we started talking. I cannot remember their names at the moment, but one guy's wife is the manager of memberships at the CO OP. Small world! They were staying in a tree house at the hotel Toucan We did find the back way into the beach area, without having to pay the tourist fee of $6.00 to get in. ripoff.

They went snorkling off of the whaletail jetty, and did not realize as the tide came in that the jetties would disappear. I really thought I was going to witness three drownings.

On New Years eve, I went to a great party. It was also a birthday party of the owner of Toucan Hotel. He threw himself a great party. Through out the night, actors would perform. One was a girl who had worked in Circus Ole, she did the ballet from the curtins hanging from the tree. Spinning, dropping very cool stuff. Then fire dancers came out and threw and juggled with fire. Followed by one of the local mountain indian tribes with swords and spears fighting each other. What a great show. The music was incredible with a band playing hard blues/rock accomidied with a guy playing a Didgeridoo. What a sound! Uli boge is his name. He has some stuff on Youtube. Long stumble back up the mountian.

A couple of days later "Victor" from the Canery Islands built a

sweat lodge with bamboo and palm frawns. He then built a huge fire in order to heat the rocks, Upon entry, eight of us sat on the ground and as the rocks were placed in the pit, a person would score the rock with a pine tar ball, which generated a powerful, cleansing scent.. Then you would start to chant. I do not know any chants. I just sweated, very easy . He would come in and pour water over the rocks for the steam. The tempature would soar to about 125 degrees and you sweat like mad. We did three, 10 minute sessions or as long as you could stand it. During each session, as we would exit, Victor would pour a herbal green tea completly over you, then rub you from head to toe with a red clay mud. Not all of us got naked but my friend Uta, did. Those crazy German's!! I hope she is not mad with me for posting this but it was the only one that came out because of the mud on the camera.

Monday, the little banddito's got my backpack!! I was walking down to the beach and set my stuff down, for 2 minutes. BAM gone! MP3, camera, 20,000 cahones. = 10 dollars, and my hammock. I hope to find that little bastard. They local kids have a little gang down here on the beach. No worries.

That's about all for now, the food is very good and cheap. The only restaurant of note, thus far would be "Madras" which specializes in French, Thai and Indian Food. Which is a very well presented and decorated french modern. The food "Voondaba". I am heading back there with a group from the surf camp Friday night. The cook brings in freshly caught bluefin tuna in the morning to serve only on Friday nights. I will post pictures next week. The place is truly special.

My new home does not have internet so my post and email replies might be slow to respond.

Pura Vida